Ma and Yiin at top of Watchung Hills High School graduating class

Michael Ma and Wesley Yiin, both of Warren Township, have earned the honor of delivering the valedictory and salutatory speeches, respectively, at the 55th commencement of Watchung Hills Regional High School, to be held on June 21 , at 6 p.m. on the school’s football field, Tozier Stadium.

Ma achieved the highest academic standing in the graduating class of an anticipated 474 students, with Yiin a very close second in rank. The two top-ranking seniors mirror each other in many ways. Both students have exceptional academic records and have been named continuously to the High Honor Roll. Both are National Merit Semifinalists as well as Advanced Placement Scholars with Distinction. Both were named to the National Honor Society. Both have been deeply involved in math and science studies and, subsequently, involved in competitions in those areas on local, regional and national levels.

Ma, on the basis of “excellence in education and the promise of greatness…” had the honor of being nominated as a United States Presidential Scholar from the State of New Jersey in the nation’s Class of 2012, and had the distinction of attaining semi-finalist standing . Last summer he had the supreme honor of being named to the Annual Research Science Institute at MIT. He is a Merck Scholar and has won recognition in both Physics and Chemistry Olympiads .He has captained both the Math and Academic teams at Watchung Hills and is a three-year member of the math team (ARML) which encompasses the “Lehigh Valley” (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and New York) that has earned second place nationally.

In addition to his scholarly accomplishments, Ma is a member of the varsity tennis team, and he also plays the viola — in the Young Players Philharmonic. He has also graduated from the Huaxia Chinese School. He was named to the area’s “Top Ten” 2012 high school graduates by the Courier News.

The son of Mark and Ling Ma of Warren Township, Ma will follow in his sister Lisa’s footsteps and attend Harvard University in the fall as a math-economics major.

Wesley Yiin, son of Henry and Sheau-Ling Yiin of Warren, is Watchung Hills’ second-ranking senior. He, too, has not only achieved an outstanding academic record, but has also racked up a worthy record of extracurricular activities. He has been an enthusiastic, three-year supporter of REBEL, a student anti-smoking organization which creates awareness to the perils of smoking by sponsoring such events as the Great Smokeout. Although the state of New Jersey ended its support of the campaign in 2010, Yiin as chairperson, and others valiantly pursued the project, with positive results among the student body.

Yiin has been a clarinet-player in Watchung Hills’ Marching Band and has been actively involved in the Relay for Life (which he described as supporting “clean partying”). He’s also been a member of Junior Statesmen of America and a three-year member of the Science League. He was named to the 2011 Governor’s School in the Sciences.

Outside of school hours, Yiin has a “small job” at a Warren ice cream store and serves as a volunteer (“Junior Courier”) at Morristown Memorial Hospital every Monday afternoon

Yiin will attend Yale University in the fall, and is considering medicine, science or “cognitive science” as a major.